I didn't believe, at first, that Rectus would do this; but there was only one passenger car, and after the Corny family got into that, he didn't hesitate a minute about the engine.
We had a splendid ride.

We went slashing along through the woods the whole way, and as neither of us had ever ridden on an engine before, we made the best of our time.

We found out what every crank and handle was for, and kept a sharp look-out ahead, through the little windows in the cab.

If we had caught an alligator on the cow-catcher, the thing would have been complete.

The engineer said there used to be alligators along by the road, in the swampy places, but he guessed the engine had frightened most of them away.
The trip didn't take forty minutes, so we had scarcely time to learn the whole art of engine-driving, but we were very glad to have had the ride.
We found the steam-boat waiting for us at Tocoi, which is such a little place that I don't believe either of us noticed it, as we hurried aboard.